History of a House
by SecondSilk
Summary: A history of 12 Grimmauld Place and the last generations of the Black family, through 100 word drabbles. COMPLETE!
1. Impressions

The History of a House.

By Rose Williams.

Hogwarts, 12 Grimmauld Place, etc, belong to JK Rowling.

Rated PG because it's not entirely happy.

These were written for the 12 Grimmauld Place challenge on the livejournal community HP100.

Each chapter is exactly 100 words, and they have their own chapters because they have their own notes and titles, lucky them.

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Impressions.

1957

…

Annabelle smiled wanly at the streetscape. She admitted that a London autumn night was probably not the most forgiving aspect, but she wasn't sure the house would ever look good from the outside.

Orion grasped her hand and lifted her into his arms before crossing the threshold. She giggled at his mannerisms.

He carried her upstairs to the main bedroom, which overlooked the lonely street. There would be time for a tour tomorrow, afterwards. But from what she had seen, it looked roomy and well built.

From the inside it was a fine house in which to raise a family.


	2. Grim, Old, Home

Grim, Old, Home.

1969

…

"Miss Black, Miss Narcissa," Uncle Orion greeted them.

Andromeda shivered. She wouldn't have come home for Christmas as it was. She certainly preferred Christmas at Hogwarts to spending anytime with her father's brother in his house. 'Grim, old place' indeed.

Still, it was her last Christmas before she finished school and left her family for good.

"Bella," her uncle cooed.

She had always been the beloved niece.

Andromeda spied Sirius, all of ten hiding behind the door into the library and waved. He waved back tentatively.

If she couldn't bare the house for a day, what would his childhood him?


	3. Taking Leave

Taking Leave.

1975

…

Sirius hadn't lost his touch during his six years at Hogwarts. He snuck out of his house never to return.

Regulus had told them about his fight with Bellatrix. The middle of great hall was not the most prudent place to express his views but he wouldn't take them back.

"If you want to go out and live with the filthy Mudblood whores so be it," his mother told him, voice soft. "You will not be welcomed back here. You are not my son."

He had rejoiced.

Now he was going to find a house which could be a home.


	4. Condolences

Condolences.

1978

…

The street looked quiet and the sunlight was bright, but Sirius was so tense beside her, Lily felt uncomfortable.

Sirius knocked on the door of number twelve. Lily smoothed her robes.

The door was opened by an older woman.

"Mother, this is Lily, a friend."

"My condolences," Lily said.

Mrs Black turned dead eyes from her son to his companion. She opened the door for them and they entered.

The door closed behind them. Lily felt trapped. The house didn't like her, it wanted her to leave. She shivered, and finally understood why Sirius had had to abandon his family.


	5. Family Tradition

Family Tradition.

1980

…

Sirius wouldn't have met his brother, but Regulus had insisted on a meeting and Sirius had run out of excuses. He refused to go back to the house. His brother understood and suggested they meet at the Leaky Cauldron.

"I've commissioned a picture of mama," was his news.

Sirius hadn't been able to bring himself to present any arguments against the idea. It was a family tradition, like killing the house elves, and Regulus wouldn't believe that they didn't need another her.

"There isn't any room in the picture gallery," was his argument.

"We can hang it in the hall."


	6. Left to Offer

Left to Offer.

Late Spring 1994

…

Sirius had given him much this evening, Dumbledore was quite tired. He had listened, questioned and watched. But he had little information that he could use now.

Dumbledore wondered how tried Sirius was. He looked weary, but more from the threat of returning to Azkaban still without having committed the crime he would be imprisoned for.

"I hold little sway with the Minister," Dumbledore began.

"The house," Sirius said. "You can have the house for the Order's meetings. It needs work, cleaning, but father warded it well."

They sounded like the last words of a dying man; relieved and accepting.


	7. Imagination

Imagination.

Summer 1994

…

Biting snuff box; Wartcap powder; aggressive metal spider; music box, the tune of which could knock people out; sealed locket; booby-trapped grandfather clock; robes which can strangle people; doxies; a boggart; and a picture of an insane woman.

Moody sighed as he explored the last nooks and crannies of the house. The sound of his wooden leg echoed through the empty rooms.

You would have thought, given Sirius's reaction to the house and the reputation the Black family had had that there would be more interesting and dangerous dark arts stuff to deal with.

No one had any imagination anymore.


	8. A Woman's Touch

A Woman's Touch.

Winter 1994-5

…

Dumbledore said he'd found them a house. He didn't said that he had only found them half a house.

When Molly arrived Sirius was in the kitchen. She kicked him. He growled at her.

"Sirius, if normal people are going to be visiting this house it needs to be habitable for more than stray, flee ridden dogs."

He turned back into himself and growled again.

"I'm sorry it's just this house. It's put me quite on edge."

"My parents had that effect on people," Sirius said. "I think it bleed into the walls."

"Don't say blood," Molly said. "Start cleaning."


	9. Homely

Homely.

Easter 1995

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Severus sneered at dust and doxies still in the curtains. He sneered at his host, a rangy mutt, who had but his last worn out possession, this house, to offer to cause he had once already failed.

Sirius was not really Severus's problem. He hated the man on principle, the same way he ridiculed Remus and was mean to Harry; the reasons less important than even the image he maintained.

Bit the image was no longer him, and the dark evil imbedded in the house was too much of reminder of what he himself had done, and failed to do.


	10. Happier Times

Implied Remus/ Sirius.

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Happier Times.

Summer 1995

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"Ron!"

Hermione giggled as he flung open a door and marched inside.

Hermione closed the door and took a moment to survey the room. Musty, dusty and dark.

The two men in the photo on the desk pressed themselves against the glass, staring at the intruders. Ron and Hermione waved, they waved back.

"Ron, it's Sirius and Remus."

The young men were delighted to be recognised. Hermione felt sorry for them, being trapped in this room.

Sirius tugged Remus close and pointed out their new friends. Ron and Hermione looked at each other. So, the house had a happy secret.


	11. Know Your Place

Know Your Place.

Winter 1995-6

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Master is back. Mistress is not pleased. She screams from the hall commanding the defilers gone. Master welcomes them.

They don't like Kreacher. Master order him to serve them, and keep himself out of sight. They do not trust him, and he refuses to trust them. He kept this house when there was no one but the painting of Mistress. He will keep it again when the Dark Lord triumphs and the defilers are put in their place.

Until then he will obey Master.

When he orders Kreacher out of the house, the elf leaves happily for the first time.


	12. Plotting

Plotting.

Easter 1996

…

"Did you get it?" Fred asked.

George spread the parchment out on the floor and took out his wand.

They stared at it fir several moments.

"What so we do now?" Fred asked.

"Well, we could ask Harry to borrow the map."

"He won't get for a while."

"We could ask Professor Lupin," George suggested. "Didn't he write the first one?"

Fred prodded the paper with his wand. Lines spread across the page, tracing an image of the house.

Suddenly the map was filled with little named dots.

George stared at his brother.

"Or you could just do that."


	13. Memorial

Implied Remus/Sirius

Memorial.

Late Spring 1996

…

Was this all there was? Was this all that was left of him? A black, Black, horrible, hostile house?

Mrs Black was staring blankly across the hallway. She said nothing, there was no one to whom she could address her raving.

Remus snuck through the empty house. It had given up the memory of its occupant so very easily.

Sirius's room was as he left it twenty years before. There was still a photo on the desk. His younger self waved at him, and laughed with the younger Sirius.

Curled up on Sirius's bed, Remus wondered what had happened to them.


	14. Without Memories

Without Memories.

Autumn 1998

…

It should have been mine, Tonks thought.

She was the eldest child of the eldest child of the next younger sibling. But woman didn't inherit.

Number 12 Grimmauld Place now belonged to a some obscure relative who hadn't been on the tapestry.

She'd never visited as a child. Her mother had blamed the house for turning her cousin into a murdering traitor.

Tonks would always associate that part of London with Sirius, even now that the house was gone, and anyone could see the site it had stood on.

A last tear for her cousin fell with the final wall.


End file.
